Get Your Elk Burger On At Fuddruckers

While KFC has its Double Down and Carl’s Jr. has its foot-long burger, Fuddruckers, the burger chain with the name that sounds more like a syndrome than it does a restaurant, is out to differentiate itself from the competition by offering up a selection of exotic meats to customers. It already has salmon and buffalo burgers on the menu, and in the last week it’s added elk to the list.

The half-pound elk burgers are part of the restaurant’s growing “Fudd’s Exotics” offerings, which will soon include wild boar and ostrich. Some Fuddruckers had occasionally offered any or all of these selections in limited quantities, but the plan is to now go system-wide with the Exotics line.

Fuddruckers is pushing the elk burger as a somewhat healthier option than your typical beef burger, saying it is “lean and savory, low in sodium and has 0g. of artificial trans fats.”

As for how to order your elk burger, the eatery suggests that it be ordered grilled to medium and topped with Swiss cheese and grilled onions.

What other exotic meats would you like to see turned into burger form?

They’ve had the Ostrich burger in Arizona for quite some time. To me it tastes largely like a beef hamburger, which I suppose is an interesting reversal of the everything-tastes-like-chicken phenomenon. Still, if that’s the case I might as well go with a beef hamburger…

Mmmm…. It’s been a while since I had elk. My dad shot one a few years back and we had elk in various forms 3-4 times a week for almost a year. Anything you can do with beef can be done with elk, and wild elk has this fantastic flavor that you won’t find in any steer. I wonder how the Fuddrucker’s burgers will compare. Too bad the closest one is about an hour away… I’ll have to stop there next time I’m in the area.

I live on the west coast so elk is hard to come by- especially considering our local elk is endangered.
I would love a non-seasoned chunk of Elk meat just to see what it tastes like!
If it’s anything like moose- my boss graciously gave me a small cut of meat a year ago- i am sold.

I’ve had the ostrich burger there in the past. It’s good and tastes a lot like the buffalo. The only problem is that they keep the meat frozen until somebody orders it so it takes a lot longer to prepare. A big problem if you’re on separate checks and with a group. They’re all half done by the time your food is ready.

I want to try this out just so I can say that I did, but the only Fuddruckers near me shut down not too long ago. I seriously said “What the hell??” out loud when I drove past it one day and saw it was closed.

That’s what happened to me. It shut down after we moved to the area (conicidence?) so I never got the chance to try them and every restaurant on that location since, has died out too. But we can always hit up our local butcher shops for neat, seasonal items.

I get elk burgers at my local farmer’s market, and they’re pretty tasty. It’s almost indistinguishable from beef. The main difference is, since they have very little fat, they can be a bit dry. I like mine with blue cheese crumbles, grilled portabella and a dash of A1.

Lordy. Is it that difficult for Consumerist to make a post that doesn’t include some unnecessary, snarky comment [“the burger chain with the name that sounds more like a syndrome than it does a restaurant”].

Man, Fuddrucker’s burgers are good. Plus, I can order their wedge fries and drown them in melted cheese.

i made my own elk burgers at home, but now I’m out. I’m sure Fuddrucker’s would be cheaper and easier than taking time off work, driving up to the mountains, hiking 15-20 miles, field dressing, packing it out, processing, etc.

One more reason not to go to Fuddruckers. I haven’t been to the one around my house for about 15 years. The burgers are over priced, and nothing to write home about. No reason to spend 3x what a normal burger costs for the same meat, and taste…

Once I went to Red Robin with my girlfriend. She ordered a buffalo burger. About half way through the burger I asked “So, how does buffalo taste?” She laughed and said “It’s just a name, it isn’t really buffalo.” Once I finally convinced she is indeed eating ground buffalo meat she couldn’t finish her sandwich.

I hate to be a basher in an otherwise mostly positive thread, but I don’t see what is so special about Fuddruckers. Their burgers are too thick to be the crispy outside-moist inside grilled type, but aren’t charbroiled as a thick burger ought to be. Flavorwise it reminds me of the now defunct Big n’ Tasty at McD’s. I don’t understand the appeal.

I had the two best buffalo burgers last night. They had mixed it with beef because the bison is too lean. DH grilled the burgers and I melted swiss on mine, put ketchup, mustard, dill relish and a slice of tomato on the other side and wrapped them in lettuce leaves. Then I remembered the little bit of guacamole I had left in the frig. yum

Fuddrucker’s has always been my favorite burger place. It’s pretty close to here in calumet city, il. I haven’t been there in years though but hopefully if they still have that elk burger soon I’ll try to stop by and see how it is.

American Bison are not Buffalo, no matter what marketer might claim they are. Asian Water Buffalo, African Buffalo. Thems the real buffaloes.

American Bison are certainly present in the united states, not extinct as some would tell you with a smug smile when you tell them you are chowing down on Buffalo and they want to go off on you. But at the same time, they aren’t 100% wrong either. Theres only about 500,000 american bison in the us. Most are raised for meat, but that isn’t really nearly enough to keep up with demand.

Enter the Beefalo.

What do you get when you breed bison and cattle? Well, surprisingly tasty crossbreeds known as beefalo. A lot of the “buffalo” sold in the us and especially sold abroad is in fact the slightly more hybrid beefalo. Still delicious, but you never know.

Confused? Yeah, the problem is that USDA standards for game meat are less…..stringent? than the standards for beef and poultry production, so there is a lot of confusion over just what you are eating, Buffalo, Bison, or Beefalo. Unless you live in the far east or africa, the chances of Buffalo are slim, but its entirely possible and delicious to get Bison and Beefalo in the us.

As to the query, I would like to see Javalina burgers. Yknow, peccary? Delicious animals, delicious as burgers, sausages, roasts, you name it.

Alwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalways order ground meats *WELL DONE*. You don’t know where that meat came from, what equipment it was ground on, and whether or not it was consistently held at the appropriate temperatures during every stage of the process.

Beware!! I wanted a Buffalo Burger while waiting for a flight at Washington/Dulles airport. The order took forever to prepare–which was a bit odd for Buffalo. I only eat Buffalo and know approximately how long a buff-burg takes to prepare. When I received my order–buzzer ringing and lights flashing–they gave me something else. Not sure if it was Elk, Ostrich or something else. It was not Buffalo (the highest priced item on the menu). Did I get my money’s worth? No. Are they trying to pass “slow sale” low volume Ostrich and Elk for Buffalo? I am Mad and I am not going to take it anymore. Voting with my wallet and never trusting these guys to serve high quality “exotics.” Know your meat Fudd?